A New Year to be a Better Parent

With each year that passes, reality of parenting challenges sinks deeper and deeper and deeper.  The reality that my kids are getting old enough to understand, to mimic, and to ask the really hard questions.  We don't use curse words in our home but if we did, our kids would be well versed in that vocabulary by their ages (3 & 5)!  A little note to self for you newer parents. Just last month a friend's daughter (age 5) got in trouble in her kindergarten class for blurting out a swear word.  If you ever thought you had a bad habit you needed to drop....I'd work on dropping it ASAP! Seriously! In our home I've noticed the kids vocal volume increase as they argue. Hmmmm, wonder where they get that from? Yeah, guilty. The funny thing is, we also don't do a lot of yelling in our home. Don't get me wrong...voices get raised. And while no excuse is justifiable, you'll likely recognize the situations in which "yelling" occurs:  when I attempt to get their attention because the kids are arguing, when someone does something outrageously bad like whack the other on the head with something that could have caused permanent serious damage, when both kids have literally pushed me to the edge all day & I snap. Some of that may sound vaguely familiar to some of you parents. Or maybe its just me? It doesn't happen every day, rarely once a week. However, it does happen.
I've said it from the beginning, I'm not a perfect parent. But it's a new year and with that I'm seizing the time to refocus, reflect, and work on those areas I KNOW I can do better.
My daughter for example is already a classic combination of her Dad and me.  She has somehow managed to tune out people when they call her name....oh, just like her Dad! In return, she also randomly gives side commentaries (often unsolicited)....hmmm....much like her Mother.  By the age of 5 they have picked up on all sorts of nuances!  Its a little scary when you start seeing your child engage in the very behaviors you DO and worse yet that you definitely DO NOT want them to be doing!  I am so not ready for the teenage years! Hear me out though. Perhaps, just perhaps, if I can tweak my parenting, tweak my responses to how I communicate with my kids, how I interact with them & my husband...in essence, work on improving myself. Perhaps then more of the "good" will rub off :) I'm going to work on doing more listening, more reflecting of feelings when my kids express theirs, work on not raising my voice but looking them in the eye & speaking with respect, more involving them in responsibilities to channel their energies, and more cuddling. That last one I just threw in there because.... well, they are 3 & 5...there aren't many more years they'll tolerate Mommy smothering them w hugs n kisses! Here's to having a "Good" parenting year!